Matt Carpenter has struck out like he never has before and, until Wednesday, hadn’t driven the ball as he was known to in seasons past. Marcell Ozuna at times seems more concerned with complaining about umpires’ strike zones than fixing his own flagging power.

The only qualified batter in MLB with a lower average than Carpenter (.160) is Dexter Fowler (.158). Manager Mike Matheny’s lineup card has become a daily word scramble, with names moving up and down, in and out, of the batting order as their fortunes wax and wane, mostly wane.

Yes, the Cardinals bunched a lot of hits and jammed the bases against their old friend, Lance Lynn, in Wednesday’s 7-5 win over the Twins at Target Field, but they’re still going to need to see a lot more offense than that to feel confident that their hitting has turned a corner. For one thing, Lynn – who signed so late, he missed most of spring training – is a mess, with a 7.47 ERA thus far.